Glove drier



March 5, 1957 A. ROSS GLOVE DRIER Filed July 8, 1955 INVENTOR ia/m/voap flar:

ATTORNEY GLOVE DRIER Alexander Ross, Flushing, N. Y.

Application July 8, 1955, Serial No. 520,815

3 Claims. (Cl. 223-78) This invention relates broadly to supporting forms for articles to be shaped while drying, such as gloves.

Glove driers or glove stretchers are generally known in the art and usually consist of a palm-supporting portion from which extend four fixed finger supports or digits. There are also glove driers equipped with a thumb-supporting element in addition to the usual four digits, such element being either fixedly united with the palm portion or being removed therefrom.

The present invention contemplates a glove drier, preferably of open-work construction to provide air passage through the drying glove, and wherein there is employed a movable thumb-supporting element hingedly connected with the palm-supporting portion of the drier so that it is rendered movable within certain limits in a plane distanced from an imaginary median plane passing through the palm-supporting portion and the four fixed digits extending therefrom.

One of the objects of this invention therefore is the provision of a glove drier comprising an open-work glove-supporting structure composed of a palm-supporting portion or area and four fixed digits extending therefrom, and wherein a movable thumb-supporting element is hingedly associated with said palm-supporting area and is operative in a plane distanced from a median plane passing through the palm-supporting area and the four fixed digits. I V

Another object of this invention is the combination with a glove-supporting structure having a palm area and four fixed digits, of an adjustable thumb-supporting element hingedly associated with the palm area and being operative in a plane distanced from a median plane passing through the palm area and the four digits, and wherein means are provided for limiting the movement of that adjustable thumb-supporting element.

A still further object of this invention is the provision of a glove drier of the above stated characteristics which is simple in construction and inexpensive in production and most effective in its use in that it readily facilitates placng of a glove, and especially of its thumb, onto the drier, permits positioning of the thumb in respect to the glove body and simplifies the removal of the dried glove from the form without altering the intended position of the thumb relative to the glove body.

In heretofore employed glove driers where only a palm portion and four fixed digits are employed, the thumb of a glove to be dried is left unattended. In devices where a thumb-supporting element is employed, which is either fixedly united with the body of the drier or is bodily removable therefrom, the placing of a glove to be dried onto the form and the removal of the dried glove from the form is by no means simple. Moreover, the intended shape of the dried glove usually becomes distorted.

According to the present invention the thumb-supporting element hingedly connected with the drier body greatly enhances the usefulness of the device both in placing of a glove body, its fingers, and especially the 2,783,925 Patented Mar. 5, 1957 thumb, onto the device in the manner a glove is cut, whereupon the thumb-supporting element of the form is swung to the most advantageous position for both drying the glove and imparting thereto the desired shape so as to facilitate placing of a hand into the dry glove-in the most natural manner.

The foregoing objects and additional advantages will become more fully apparent from the ensuing description in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an open-work glove drier with a movable thumb-supporting element, in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, partly in section, and illustrating the connecting portion between the body of the drier and the thumb-supporting element;

Fig. 3 is a fragmental exploded detail view of the glove drier body, partly in section, and the thumbsupporting element prior to connecting the latter with the body, the section through the glove drier body being taken approximately along lines 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmental rear elevation of a portion of the glove drier showing the connection between the thumb-supporting element and the drier body; 7

Fig. 5 is a similar illustration to that of Fig. 4.0f the drier body but with the thumb-supporting element omitted; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmental illustration of the thumbsupporting element, with its connecting projection partlyin section taken approximately along lines 6--6 of Fig. 2.

The glove drier as seen in Fig. 1 comprises an open-- work body portion or palm-supporting area 10 and four fixed open-work digits 11, 12, 13 and 14 extending there-' from. Depending from the palm-supporting areais a" hook 15 by means of which the device can be suspended. Forming an integral part of body 10 is a hollow elevation 16 provided with an aperture 17, as clearly seen in Figs. 3 and 5. Elevation 16 has a flat recessed outer abutting.

surface 18 and an interior flat face 19. Adjacent to aper'-' ture 17 and extending beyond interior face 19- is an arcuate ridge 20, the ends 21 and-22 of which form abutting faces or stops as will be presently explained, see Figs. 2, 3 and 5.

Thumb-supporting element 23 has a circular interior abutting face 24 adapted to engage recessed surface 18 of raised portion 16. Extending from abutting surface 24 is a projection 25 which is substantially cup-shaped as indicated in Fig. 3 in dotted lines. Formed in the interior of the cup-shaped projection 25 are radial ribs 26. After insertion of projection 25, shown in its original form in Fig. 3, through aperture 17 of elevated portion 16, the rim of the projection is flattened out partially against inner surface 19 and partially against arcuate ridge 20. Portion 20 flattened against face 19 corresponds in shape and length dimension to arcuate ridge 20, whereby abutments or stops 21 and 22' are formed which are adapted to cooperate with and to engage abutments or stops 21 and 22 of arcuate ridge 20. By providing these cooperating stop means in the flattened edge of thumb projection 25 and at the inner work face of elevation 16, the movement of thumb-supporting element 23 is limited to two extreme positions, as clearly indicated in Fig. 1 in full and broken lines.

Also indicated in Fig. 1 is the outline of a glove body 27. When a glove is to be placed over the drier form, first the four fixed digits 11 to 14 are passed into the corresponding four fingers of the glove. Now the thumb-supporting element is swung to its outward position, indicated in broken lines in Fig. 1, to receive the thumb of the glove, and the body of the glove can now be easily pulled over the palm-supporting portion of the device. The thumb-supporting element can either remain in its outwardly swung position or may be swung to its full line position shown in Fig. l, or may be set to any desired other position between the extreme positions indicated, and the glove is permitted to dry. The hinged thumb-supporting element not only facilitates placing of' the glove over the drier and the removal of the glove from the latter, but also serves for imparting to the glove thumb the desired position relative to the glove body.

The device illustrated in the drawing is intended to be made from thermoplastic material. The connection between the thumb-supporting element and the palmsupporting portion of the device is effected by first passing projection 25 through aperture 17 and then applying heat and pressure to the edge of the projection to flatten it partly against inner surface 19 and partly against ridge 20, as shown in Fig. 2, care being taken to prevent fusing of the edge and body material of projection 25 with surface 19, the surface, of arcuate ridge 2% and the interior peripheral surface of aperture 17.

In forming abutment 20 by flattening the edge of projection against inner face 19 of elevation 16 and against the surface of arcuate ridge 20, suitable spacing means, preferably of metal, are used to not only keep the material of projection 25 separated from that of elevation 16, but to provide the required gap between ridge 20 and abutment 20.

The accompanying drawings illustrate, for the sake of simplicity, a glove drier construction which has a palm section as well as four fixed digits all disposed substantially in a single plane. While such fiat construction of the fixed drier body is perfectly acceptable and useable, its shape as well as the shape of the thumb can be so constructed as to simulate the form of a natural hand, that is, that the digits and the main or palm area can be set in a naturally bowed relation to one another, or the entire hand can comprise a hollow structure closely resembling a natural hand, fingers and thumb.

Inasmuch as curving of the flat structure illustrated, or the substitution for the structure of a hand and digitssimulating hollow glove drier would not add to the patentable aspect of this matter, specific illustrations of the above suggested structural embodiments are omitted.

While the foregoing description deals with but a single embodiment of the device and a specific construction of the thumb connection with the palm area, and also defines a specific manner of providing movement-limiting means for the thumb-supporting element, it is obvious that a movement-limiting operative connection can be effected by other means than those described, for which reasons changes and improvements required to facilitate production and assembly of the device are deemed to reside within the scope of the present invention as defined in the annexed claims.

What is claimed as new is;

1. In a glove drier, an open-work glove-supporting structure having a palm area and four fixed digits extending therefrom, the major portion of said palm area and the four fixed digits forming a continuous body, said palm area having a hollow, apertured extension raised beyond its inner surface, a thumb-supporting element hingely associated with that raised extension, and cooperating stop means provided with said element and with said raised extension for limiting the movement of said element.

2. In combination, a substantially one-piece glovesupporting form having a rigid pahn area and four rigid digits forming continuations of said palm area, a raised portion in said palm area, and a thumb-supporting element hingedly connected with said raised portion of the palm area and being movable in a plane distanced from that of the palm area, the distance between the palm area and said plane being defined by the height of said raised portion.

3. In combination, a substantially hand shaped glovesupporting, open-work form composed of a one-piece palm area and four fixed digits, and a mobile thumbsupporting element hingedly connected with said palm area, a raised portion provided at that area for supporting said element and to render it operative in a plane distanced from a median plane passing through the pahn area and the fixed digits, and stop means in said raised portion and said element for limiting the latters movement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 795,706 Kirbach July 25, 1905 1,319,579 Gilliam Oct. 21, 1919 2,281,741 Boulard May 5, 1942 

